How safe is your workplace? Quite a bizarre question for most but hold profound significance. Obviously, you will assume that your workplace is safe; after all, all employees undergo serious vetting before they are hired. What about the random shootings that are so common these days? Yes, it can happen to your working environment, and everyone is at risk. These days, no place seems to be safe, there’s criminal activity everywhere. That is why you need to be prepared for such occurrences. Although mass shootings and other significant cases make big news, you might be shocked to know that the most common violence happenings at the workplace is assault and bullying. You though bullying ended in your schooling days? You still get it at the workplace, in a more advanced form. In some extreme cases, there’s armed robbery. What can you do about this?
Perform a Security Analysis of Your Work Environment
You need to pursue some efforts to keep your employees safe. Considering that each business possesses different security needs, it is integral that you start with a security assessment to know what you are dealing with first. This way, you will learn about the vulnerabilities that you are dealing with and come up with a perfect workplace violence prevention strategy. How is the environment where your business is located? Is it a safe neighborhood? Both internal and external threats need to get analyzed thoroughly. Of course, if your business is open to the public, it means more risks. For a comprehensive security check, you need to procure the services of a professional security firm. They wouldn’t miss a thing.
Establish a Training Program for Your Employees
Your employees need to know the red flags. If they are clueless about the red flags, then they are even more vulnerable. The best means to keep them informed is via an educative program or course to aid them to grasp the best ways of dealing with workplace violence. How can they protect themselves in a violent situation? The knowledge of violence protection is as important as the sensitization of the violence.
Create a Culture of Reporting Vulnerabilities on Time
Although you are interested in keeping a safe working environment, you cannot be at all the places every time. That’s why you need to encourage your employees to take part in reporting all safety concerns. If they spot a broken light or valuable items left unsecured, they need to raise the issue with management. Also, it doesn’t have to be the victim that reports bullying but also a witness can make a major difference.
At the workplace, prevention is the best technique for tackling violence. The repercussion of a violent event might be huge; hence previous action to stay away from this is the most important thing. Create a culture of employees that have great respect for one another as they work together. It also upon you to lead by example if you want the overall objective of a safe working environment achieved.